Los Angeles has its fill of independent singer/songwriters with no real venue in which to perform their original work. Some might entertain at neighborhood coffee houses while others are busking on streets.

But if they’re really good, these troubadours can be found Upstairs at Vitello’s in Studio City in “A Showcase of Talent: L.A.’s Best Singer/Songwriters Compete” music series competition starting Sept. 3.

“There is some incredible talent, and really the chance of them going anywhere is so slim because it’s usually a guy or a gal on a bar stool with a guitar,” says Brad Roen, vice president and general manager of Vitello’s Restaurant.

For the 12-week music series competition, he has partnered with Koffeehouse Music — a clearing house of emerging new talent headed by Jeremy Koff, a classically trained cellist and the son of the late Robert Koff, a violinist and founding member of the legendary Julliard String Quartet.

Koffeehouse Music grew from backyard concerts to putting on series at various venues around town, most notably at the Ford Amphitheatre.

Its founder originally scoured MySpace for artists. Today, his brand is known in music circles for supporting up-and-coming artists.

“We get involved at the point just before an artist is going to break out,” Koff says, offering success stories like Andy Grammer, Kina Grannis and Tyrone Wells, as well as NBC’s “The Winner Is” champion Katie Ohh. “Artists come to us because major labels, for the most part, have cut out development budgets in A&R, and so we fill that gap.”

Koffeehouse has collaborated with big name brands, including Apple, The Westfield Group and Hyatt Corporation on competitions to showcase new talent, but Vitello’s is its first series.

And it’s expected to lay the ground work for future seasons.

“We’ve got ‘American Idol,’ we’ve got ‘America’s Best Talent,” we’ve got ‘The Voice,’ but we don’t have any competitions for singer-songwriters,” Roen says. “They’re really the most talented because they’re writing their own music and playing their own stuff.”

In the coming days, Koffeehouse Music will announce the lineup.

About 30 featured performers were handpicked from several hundred submissions to compete before a revolving door of judges, a grab bag of industry executives, Grammy winners and other artists.

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For the first nine weeks, one performer will be chosen from each programmed night’s featured few to advance on to the semi-finals.

The top two will go on to compete for the grand prize: a three-day recording session, plus $1,000 cash.

Additional prizes will also be awarded.

While the competition is closed, Koffeehouse Music is still accepting YouTube submissions of live music performances for the pre-show jam session at www.koffeehouse.com.

“Just say, ‘Hey, I’m interested in performing for Koffeehouse,’ ” Koff says. “That’s our most immediate opportunity, and there are other opportunities down the road as well.”